Silversmith Sarah James, knows what she wants in life. However, a surprise email from Paris threw her off guard, in the best way possible, reports ELIZABETH KOVACS.

From a young age, Sarah James has been interested in jewellery making.

Originally from Ungarie, NSW, she took a double degree in gold and silversmithing as well as psychology at the Australian National University 

The 29-year-old runs her business, Little Moments Jewellery, part time, while working in the Attorney-General’s Department in research and science full time. 

“Having the two jobs together is a really beautiful balance for me, so I’d never want to just pick one,” she says. 

However, Sarah’s business received a boost in public interest after she received an email, challenging her carefully crafted balance.

“[The email] said: ‘Hey Sarah, we’d love you to come to Paris Fashion Week with us, please apply’,” she says. 

“I thought, ‘cool, spam’, and deleted it.

“Then they reached out again.”

She checked with other businesses and brands who had previously attended the event.

“They were super helpful and I realised that it was a legitimate thing, so I applied, thinking I’d be rejected the first year, because I had no idea what I was doing,” she says.

“They accepted me in the first round.” 

Having recently moved back to Canberra, Sarah hadn’t set up her studio, nor did she have stock that would be appropriate for the early October  show. 

Specialising in minimalist jewellery, her first job was to upsize the pieces so they would show up on the runway. 

Picking three of her collections to take with her, she says it was a busy few months in the lead up to Paris.

Out of the three collections (Molten, Coalescence and Coercive Control), she was particularly pleased to see Coercive Control making waves. 

Inspired by her day job, she was attracted to the idea of raising awareness for coercive control (a pattern of behaviour used to control another person). 

The Coercive Control collection features oxidised silver, something she had not previously worked with under her brand.

“I was a little worried, because my whole heart and brain had been in it for so long, but it was well received and encouraged conversations,” she says. 

Featuring small bumps in texture, Sarah says her collection is a conversation starter, with the polish slowly returning to the blackened silver with each wear, symbolising the importance of speaking up and speaking wide about the topic. 

“It wasn’t like anyone on the runway knew, until we spoke about it,” she says. 

“It was nice to have [the conversations], but heartbreaking.”

The Paris debut wasn’t without its moments, with three pieces of her jewellery (two of which were one-of-a-kind) disappearing after the two shows she had been featured in.

Despite her new global presence, she says it hasn’t ignited anything in her to grow bigger, instead finding peace and tranquillity in her Cook studio. 

“I love selling worldwide, but I don’t want to leave my workshop,” she says. 

“When you want to do it at that scale, you have to start getting other people to make your jewellery, and it very quickly becomes less ethical, worse quality, less personable, and it gets rid of the stuff that I like about what I do.

“Staying small is the goal.” 

Primarily working in silver, Sarah uses offcuts from larger-scale jewellers, ensuring nothing is put to waste. Finding new ways to use the silver scraps in her collections is a challenge. 

“It’s similar to writing something,” she says. 

“Staring at a blank page is the worst part, but if someone gives you words, you can fit them together.” 

Although Sarah can make any piece in gold, she prefers to work in more affordable silver. 

“Part of why I enjoy making jewellery is making lifelong pieces, but at a more accessible point,” she says. 

Far from being “special-occasion jewellery”, she says she aims to make pieces that are loved and “fidgeted with” daily.